State of the Hogs: Bouncing back the goal again

Arkansas linebacker Brooks Ellis makes a tackle during a game against Ole Miss on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016, in Fayetteville.

— It's been a roller coaster of a ride for the Arkansas football team. There have been lopsided losses followed by upset victories.

They have been the underdog seven times this season. They are 3-4 in those games with victories at TCU and at home against Ole Miss and Florida. All three of those victories were over teams ranked at the time.

“We've beaten some good teams,” said Paul Rhoads, the Arkansas secondary coach. “Those three were awfully good teams. But are we pleased with where we are at? No, not even close.

“It's about expectations. I know that. We've been on a roller coaster and that's because of the level of the competition.”

The Hogs now have to bounce back after a 38-10 loss to LSU, a game in which the dam broke as far as the running game once again. LSU ran for five touchdowns.

However, the Hogs have been there before, and responded. As Rhoads pointed out, the Hogs have not lost back-to-back games this year. They are 9-0 over the last two seasons after losing SEC games.

Rhoads knows how they've bounced back. It's because of a positive mindset in the locker room.

“Our players are positive,” he said. “They are far from satisfied and want to bounce back. They have some disappointing losses, and last week against LSU is another one. But they know how to channel focus and get on to the next game. I see that.”

Head coach Bret Bielema thinks the mindset is positive. He mentioned Monday that there was good leadership in a Sunday team meeting. He said the players who spoke delivered the right message.

“It was Dan Skipper, Taiwan Johnson and Dre Greenlaw,” said Brooks Ellis, senior linebacker. “They talked about not accepting the way we played (against LSU). They talked about how much there is left to this season, two more games, plus a bowl game.”

It was interesting that Greenlaw spoke. He was the team's leading tackler before going down with a broken foot in the first quarter of the Alabama game. He is not slated to play in the last two games of the regular season, this week at Mississippi State and in the finale at Missouri. He could play in a bowl game.

“He just wanted to remind everyone that there is a lot to play for still,” Ellis said. “He said he knows we can play better than we did.”

There was one other voice, someone who talks to the players a lot, but in a different setting. Strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert asked for a few minutes.

“He knocked it out of the park,” Ellis said. “Coach Herb talks to us, but it's usually just in the weight room. He's never done it on Sunday night before. This had never happened before. He brought it.”

Ellis said the team will be ready to play in Starkville.

“We are excited,” he said. “I'm excited. I think the team will be ready. We want to prove what we can do.”

What the Hogs will have to do on defense will start with getting after State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. At 6-5, 230, Fitzgerald is a load, more of a tailback than a quarterback. He has five 100-yard rushing games and has a team best 854 yards on the ground.

“He's sneaky fast,” Ellis said. “He runs the zone read very well. We know we are going to see that. They run it a lot like Texas A&M. He's going to read the linebacker sometimes and the end sometimes. We are working on that. We have to get after the quarterback, make him uncomfortable.”

The Hogs have given up 29 rushing touchdowns. That's the most they've allowed in modern history. The UA record books only go back to 1947 in that category. The Hogs are trying to fix some of the issues that have popped up this season.

“We've got things to get corrected because something is not working,” he said. “Not everyone has been doing their job. It's happened all the time this year.

“But we've got two more games to show what we can do. I know there are a lot of guys who want to show their capabilities. That's what Coach Herb talked to us about.”

Rhoads said it's about working to improve in all areas each week. That's what he said he told players would be the goal when he arrived last winter.

“If you assess where we are in the secondary, there is good and bad in all things,” he said. “But what I told them last winter, I wanted them to improve. I think they've improved their technique and their fundamentals.

“Are we meeting expectations, heavens no. We've got to play better. We've got to play better in the run and we've got to play better in the pass. We've got three games left to do that.”

That three-game stretch starts with what Rhoads calls “a dangerous” State team. He recalls playing against a quarterback similar to Fitzgerald when he was in the Big 12 at Iowa State.

“He's like Collin Klein at Kansas State,” Rhoads said. “Fitzgerald is very efficient in the run game. It's not just zone reads. It's called quarterback runs – sweeps and draws. He's patient and he's fast enough.”

Rhoads knows what to expect at Starkville. The home crowd will be loud and the cow bells will be ringing.

“I know this, everywhere you look there will be signs saying they are illegal, but they'll be there,” Rhoads said. “It gives you some issues with communication, but we worked on that this week.”

Ellis said he recalls the noise level being high from the trip to Starkville two years ago.

“Your ears will still be ringing the next day,” Ellis said. “It's loud.”

Rhoads said it's something that really doesn't matter.

“You get in the game, you are not aware of it,” he said. “Really you aren't. You might be aware of it more in the stands, but not when you are on the field and have that mental intensity that comes with the game. You don't understand that unless you've played. I just look at the (cow bells) as part of the pageantry of the game.”

The Hogs just want to bounce back, pageantry or not.

“That's what we are talking about this week,” Ellis said. “We do keep coming back after losses. Our attitude is positive.

“We have not beaten (Mississippi State) the last three years while I'm here. We want to change that. We are going down there to get that changed.”